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So yummy. My friend posted on Facebook that she had to explain to her child that the Cauliflower Cake she made for dinner was a savory CAKE, not like a birthday cake. She said it was a recipe from Ottolenghi. Of course I Googled it and I was intrigued. Then I noticed that a head of cauliflower was to be delivered in our produce box so I thought, ok. The challenge according to the posted recipe was finding the nigella seeds, but I think Amazon meets each and every challenge with a “pppprrrruuuuuf”. I ordered both the white sesame seeds and nigella seeds online and had them before my scheduled produce delivery. The recipe noted you can use black sesame, black cumin, or onion seeds instead of the nigella/black caraway seeds.

I altered this recipe because I used the head of cauliflower I had and did not specifically shop for a small one as the recipe called for. I also could not bring myself to use the 5 (FIVE) tablespoons of olive oil that the recipe called for. I put two in the pan and almost stopped there, but decided to go with three . . . which I think was PLENTY!

I don’t like biting into rosemary stems so I had my husband grind them. He used a mortar and pestle and he does an excellent job making them fine and powdery! I also used SHAVED cheese instead of shredded Parmesan, and it was actually a Parmesan/Romano blend. I like how there is more cheese in a bite that way . . . but I am sure either is fine. The recipe called for unsalted butter, which I bought once for a recipe a long time ago and will not be doing that again. So I used regular butter.

Since I use my blog as my recipe book I put my ideas for next time I make this in the recipe below in asterisked italics. That way I don’t have to continue to scroll down to check what I want to do different and I won’t forget because it will be right there.)

This is what I did, which is an adaptation of Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipe I found on thekitchn.com

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Savory Cauliflower Cake

(Serves 4 to 6)

1 cauliflower head, cut into pieces (not small pieces, about an inch big)

Preheat the oven to 450°F. (The original recipe called for 400° F, I mistakenly did it at 450° which requires less time . . . .so I think I will stick to 450° F and bake it for less time.)

Place the cauliflower florets in a saucepan and add 1 teaspoon salt. Cover with water and cook until the florets are quite soft. They should break when pressed with a fork. (But don’t break them up.) Drain and set aside while preparing the rest of the ingredients (whatever you didn’t get done while the cauliflower was cooking).

Peel the onion, then cut 3 slices, almost 1/4-inch/5-mm thick, off one end. Set the onion rings aside.

Heat up the 3 tablespoons of oil in a small pan.

Coarsely chop the remaining onion and cook it in the oil with the rosemary, stirring as necessary. Cook it until the onion is soft. When done remove from heat and set aside.

While the onion is cooking you can line the bottom and sides of the springform pan or your chosen baking dish with parchment paper. Then use the melted butter to butter the paper in the pan, the sides and the bottom. In the 9 1/2 inch springform the mixture does not go all the way up to the top so you only need to butter about halfway up. Mix the white sesame seeds and the nigella seeds together. Then sprinkle the seed mixture on the sides of the pan. **USE ALL THE SEEDS! Perhaps even putting them on the bottom of the pan.**

While your onions are cooling, break the 7 eggs into a large bowl and whisk well. Add the basil and whisk. Add the cooked onion and rosemary mixture to the eggs. Whisking and stirring. Then stir in the flour, baking powder, turmeric, 1 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Stir until all ingredients are mixed well. Then mix in the Parmesan. Then add the cooked cauliflower. Don’t stir too much that you break up all the flowerets into little pieces, but mix it enough so that it is all mixed together.

Pour the egg and cauliflower mixture into the pan. Spreading it evenly, then put the onion rings on top. **Sprinkle some seeds on top** Place in the center of the oven and bake for 30 to 40 minutes. Bake it until golden brown. Check complete doneness by inserting a knife into the center. It is done when the knife comes out clean. Remove from the oven and serve to your liking, hot, warm, or cold.

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I ate on this for a few days. I can’t wait to make it again with my extra **tweaks. I really like it. I thought it was super yummy. You can use it as the main dish or a side and serve it with a salad and something meaty. It could be breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It is yummy!

So I bet you have seen multiple posts or articles about cleaning with vinegar. It is a disinfectant, an anti-bacterial, and an anti-fungal. Some articles say white vinegar is good enough some say you have to use unfiltered organic apple cider vinegar. You may have also read about our recent situation in which we had an invader in the form of the fungus called ringworm. Well, a quick summary, we got two one year old kitties who had ringworm. Thankfully this was suspected the first week they were here so their contamination of the house was kept to a bare minimum. But I still wanted to disinfect everything I could. Since animals were involved I wanted to use non-toxic products. I also employed the use of two other products. I am going to keep all three of these products in my arsenal of cleaning supplies.

So as I said, I used vinegar on many, many, many things. I really don’t care for the smell, but it is safe for all types of surfaces and can be ingested by cats.

The second product is simply diluted bleach. One part bleach for ten parts water. While bleach isn’t something ingestible, it does a great job of cleaning. I used it on every surface that could tolerate it. So not as many as the vinegar. I used the bleach more for things that were on my shelves so they were taken out of the room and the cats didn’t even have access to them. I also very much like the smell of bleach. It makes me feel as if things are clean.

In my search for things non-toxic I came across EarthScents. The product description said:

The product description said:
–Use Terra Firma anti-fungal, natural all purpose cleaner to clean all hard surfaces. No harsh chemicals or synthetic fragrances.
–Aromatherapy scents
–100% natural, earth friendly, bio-degradable, septic safe, and safe for people, pets, and the planet.
–Ideal for those who are allergy prone, sensitive to chemical cleaners, or for those who are concerned about the variety and mixture of harsh chemicals used in their home and around their family.

It smells great. I bought the Rosemary scent. I didn’t use it as much as the vinegar because it says it can’t be used on wood, so I used the vinegar. But this cleaner is GREAT on mirrors. I am considering purchasing it just to clean windows and mirrors. It is great.

Oh and another mention that I discovered during our situation is Pure Citrus. We had two cats locked in one room for almost 40 days. During that period there were a couple of hot spells. So lets just say that it got kind of smelly in there, so I wanted an air freshener that I wouldn’t be afraid of landing on things and being sprayed around the cats. So I found this product on Amazon. I really like it. I purchased “Orange Air Freshener”. It smells like oranges. The ingredients listed say, “Pure Citrus contains 100% natural, delightfully fragrant oils found in fresh oranges.” Since I liked the product so much I took a chance and bought a different scent, the Lavender Air Freshener. WOW! I really like it! So, if you are ever in the market for an air freshener, I would recommend Pure Citrus, the Orange Air Freshener and the Lavender Air Freshener. I don’t know about any of the other scents.

So, I believe that vinegar, the bleach dilute, and the Spray fresh helped me get our house fungus free. At least I feel like these products cleaned it up! And with the air freshener it smells really nice.

What do you use to clean your house? What do you use to make it smell nice?

What to make for dinner is often a tough question to answer. My husband does not understand why it is so difficult. He doesn’t understand that when he eats ground turkey and a vegetable two nights (at least) every week for months it is because I just do not have the time or mental capability to THINK of something to make for dinner. Ground turkey and whatever vegetable we have is soooooo easy. But this past year I was told I made it too much. So . . . now that I have more time and can think about something other than planning a “memorial”, I am trying to come up with something else for dinner. On Thursdays I like to have something pretty much prepared before I go to teach the evening Gentle Yoga class. My hubby has been experimenting with making deviled eggs so we ended up with a lot of eggs. So I thought why not make a Frittata? Is it still a frittata if you don’t bake it in the pan you do the initial cooking in? I don’t have a cast iron skillet. Or pan that can go in the oven. Or — perhaps more accurately, one I want to put in the oven. But I just put my “frittatas” in a casserole dish.

According to Wiki:
“Frittata is an egg-based Italian dish similar to an omelette or crustless quiche, enriched with additional ingredients such as meats, cheeses, vegetables or pasta. The word frittata is derived from Italian and roughly translates to “egg-cake”.

History

The Italian word frittata derives from fritta and roughly translates to egg-cake. This was originally a general term for cooking eggs in a skillet, anywhere on the spectrum from fried egg, through conventional omelette, to an Italian version of the Spanish tortilla de patatas, made with fried potato. Outside Italy, frittata was seen as equivalent to “omelette” until at least the mid-1950s.”

Well, I had a small piece of chicken to use and a lot of eggs. So I bought some mushrooms and a leek.

Put about a tablespoon of olive oil in a pan. Heat the oil. Then add the leeks. Salt them a little while cooking. When they look as if they are getting cooked add the mushrooms to the pan. Add a little more salt. Add the rosemary. Add the garlic. Cook the leeks and mushrooms until they are almost done.

While the vegetables are cooking beat the eggs in a large bowl. Add the milk. If you feel you need more salt and pepper you can put it in the egg mixture.

Once the veggies are cooked add them to the eggs in the large bowl. Butter the casserole dish. Then pour the veggie-egg mixture into the casserole dish. Then add the chicken, use a fork to spread the chicken around in the vegetable-egg mixture. Then sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top. With the fork sink the cheese into the vegetable-egg-chicken mixture.

Bake on 350° F for about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes check it to see if it is done to your liking. Usually you want eggs to be cooked thoroughly. But everyone likes their eggs done differently so cook it to the way YOU like it.

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Of course this can be breakfast, brunch, lunch, linner, dinner, a snack . . . . whatever you want. I am sure you can adapt it to one pan cooking like a “real” frittata, but . . . it works in a casserole dish too.

In my post Balancing The Chakras With Essential Oils I shared a technique for balancing chakras that was adapted from a specific essential oil company using their specific blends. It seems like most companies that sell essential oils have their own blends with their own cute little names. As I stated in that post, I have a sample of one of the blends and it smells terrific, I really like it. In case you are not interested in buying the blends that are named in that post I did a little research on the internet about single essential oils that associated with balance and/or unblocking the chakras. Just like with pretty much everything there is a ton of information out there. I am not an essential oil expert nor a chakra expert. I created this list off of various websites. I picked the oils that I saw associated with each chakra on multiple websites.

As all oil is not created equally I would use these oils topically with a carrier oil or diffuse them.

• Crown chakra: sandalwood, lavender, jasmine

• Third Eye chakra: sandalwood, frankincense, sweet marjoram

• Throat chakra: bergamot, chamomile

• Heart chakra: peppermint, eucalyptus

• Solar Plexus chakra: peppermint, ginger, coriander, rosemary

• Sacral chakra: sandalwood, bergamot, ylang ylang, orange

• Root chakra: sandalwood, frankincense, ylang ylang

As you can see sometimes one oil can help with multiple chakras. So that is helpful in itself. Instead of buying seven different blends you can buy one oil, say sandalwood, and use it for four of the seven chakras. Using that formula, you could buy peppermint for another two, and then bergamot or chamomile for the last one. That would be only three oils. Since good quality essential oil can be expensive, to me it helps to figure out a way to get more uses out of one oil! That is just an example. I am sure there are many more combinations.

Of course, you might find that you use one oil more than another and you just want to have it on hand. There are many ways to use essential oils so I am sure you can find other uses.

Here is a little bit of information on the oils, herbs, scents, etc. listed:

Sandalwood is actually fragrant wood from specific trees. Thought to have a calming effect.

Lavender is a plant used both as a flavor in food and a scent. It is believed to have a calming, relaxing effect.

Jasmine is also a flowering plant, that is very fragrant. It is said to help relieve tension.

Frankincense is an aromatic resin obtained from trees of the genus Boswellia (from Wiki). It is claimed to help many things including over all health.

Sweet marjoram is an herb, I use in cooking quite often, the oil is said to relieve pain.

Bergamot is a type of orange the color of a lemon, good for treating skin ailments.

Chamomile a daisy like flower that is commonly used for tea. Especially tea that is promoting relaxation and even sleep.

Peppermint, most people are familiar with this flavor or scent. Peppermint has an invigorating effect.

Eucalyptus from the Eucalyptus tree, very aromatic and believed to promote healing.

Ginger, this root is used often in helping with motion sickness and nausea and digestion.

Coriander to me are the little seeds used for cooking . . . doing the research for this post, I learned that the LEAVES are what I know as cilantro! It has a calming effect.

Rosemary an herb used for cooking. Kind of like tiny twigs. It’s oil can be used to stimulate and help with concentration.

Orange, a fruit that which the oil is from the skin. Orange sent can be uplifting!

Ylang ylang, this oil comes from the Ylang Ylang tree/plant blossoms. Thought to help relieve stress.